Nobody can match Montoya

LONG POND — Watching the majority of the field try to beat his lap turned out to be more stressful than Juan Pablo Montoya's qualifying run.

JOE MIEGOC

LONG POND — Watching the majority of the field try to beat his lap turned out to be more stressful than Juan Pablo Montoya's qualifying run.

Montoya went out early Saturday morning and laid down a lap of 51.24 seconds at 176.043 mph, which was good enough to earn him the pole for today's Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Montoya, who hasn't start on the pole this year and hadn't won one since last April at Richmond, went out 13th on Saturday after being 29th quickest in Friday's first practice session. He found five extra mph in qualifying from that practice session and then sat on the edge of his seat as 28 others drivers tried to knock him off his first Pocono pole.

"The lap is OK, you just drive the wheels off the car and hope for the best," said Montoya, who did rise to 13th at 175.850 mph in Friday's second practice session. "The rest of it is out of your hands."

Montoya sat in the ESPN booth for the last 10 drivers and it was easy to see the stress in his eyes.

No more so than when Jimmie Johnson, a two-time race and pole winner at Pocono, started his lap. Johnson was quickest in the first practice session, which earned him the last qualifying spot, and 10th fastest in the second session. Johnson looked like he had Montoya's number, but the five-time Cup champion got loose coming out of Turn 2 and the smile return to Montoya's face.

"Most of them were maybe half a tenth going into Turn 1, but nothing crazy," Montoya said. "When the 48 (Johnson) went out and he was dead even with me, then maybe he gets half a tenth and I think I'm OK, but then it's a tenth, a tenth and a half and then two tenths and I'm dead. I'm saying, 'Can you believe this? The last car is going to get me.'

Johnson will roll off 10th, his 15th top-10 starting position in 22 races at Pocono.

"The car was awesome, but I made a huge mistake so I'm pretty disappointed in myself for being so aggressive and I cost us a shot at the pole," Johnson said. "We have a very fast race car and I'm just disappointed in myself for driving too hard."

Montoya's closest call came from Hamlin.

A four-time winner at Pocono, Hamlin had Montoya's lap beat going into Turn 3, but a slip up cost him his fifth pole at the 2.5-mile tri-oval.

"I'd like to say it was a good run, but I'm a little bit disappointed in our run," Hamlin said. "Knowing we were over a quarter second ahead going into the last corner (and) just missed it and our car was just way too loose. Missed the lap a little bit, but still we were very fortunate to end up where we were and at least now we will have a good starting spot."

Menard will start third after a horrid start to his weekend.

During Friday's first practice session a radiator hose broke in Menard's car, sending him into the wall and eventually causing his car to catch on fire. His Richard Childress Racing team pulled out the back-up car, went to work and got Menard some valuable track time in the second practice session. He backed that up by locking down his second straight top-three starting spot at Pocono.

"I wasn't expecting to qualify in the top three in a back-up car," said Menard, who also started second at Pocono in last June's race. "Starting with the second practice session the back-up car was good right off the truck. It's the same car that we've tested her before so we had some good data on it."

Montoya hopes his pole is the first of many good things to come.

Mired in the one of the worst seasons of his career, Montoya and his Earnhardt-Ganassi team are looking for any bright spot. Montoya is 21st in the points standings and has just two top-10 finishes this year. He has three DNFs this season and hasn't finished all the laps in 10 other races, but Saturday was a step in the right direction.

"This is a big boost for everybody on the team," Montoya said. "We needed a little bit of light. We know we're going in the right direction, we know we're working hard and the cars are getting a little better, but to go out and get a pole (is big). I just went through the hauler and everyone was happy and laughing.

"I've seen a lot of long faces and stressful faces so we really needed something like this."

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